The Arthur
& Elena Court Nature Watch Conservancy

2005 Newsletter Features:

• Sustainable Bamboo
• Grizzly Bear Update
• LAIKIPIA
• Brown Hyenas
  of Botswana
• Rainforest Action
  Network Update
• Wild Horse Sanctuary
• Zero Waste
• Solar Power Comes to
  Arthur Court
• Membership Application

Wild Horse Sanctuary
Death Sentence for Wild Horses by Congress

On December 8, 2004 with the passage of the 4,000 page Consolidated Appropriations Bill (HR4818) 33 years of Federal protection ended for America's wild horses.

Unbeknownst to the vast majority of the nation and his constituents, Senator Conrad Burns (R-Montana) inserted into this budget bill a provision (sec. 142) that removed from the Wild Free-Roaming Horse & Burro Act of 1971 protective measures that prevent America's wild horses from being sold for slaughter.

Wild horse protection was intended to be assured with the passage of the 1971 Act. How can an "Appropriation Bill" to enact a budget be allowed to literally gut a Federal Law without full public disclosure and debate?!

Mandated by Sec. 142 any wild horse "more than 10 years of age;...or offered unsuccessfully for adoption at least 3 times"..."Shall be made available for sale without limitation,..."

Systematically a national treasure and living link to America's rich historical past is being steadily eliminated from your public land.

The BLM continues to remove wild horses from public land when there are only 37,000 wild horses left. There were millions of wild horses at the turn of the 20th Century -- if wild horses were any other species they would be considered endangered or threatened.

We are told that 37,000 wild horses are all that the designated Herd Management Areas (HMA's) of land will support. Yet, over 6 million cattle and sheep graze hundreds of millions of acres of public land in 10 western states.

Wild horses have been a vital, enduring and integral component of America's history and development in the West. After 500 years of servitude to a nation, what an utterly disastrous and tragic ending for America's wild horses if Sec. 142 if allowed to be implemented.

Together We Can Make a Difference
In today's crisis filled world, it's often difficult to believe that some small act that each of us can do will make a difference.
Yet, it was public outcry and concern through letter writing that brought about the Wild Free Roaming Horse & Burro Protection Act in 1971 (PL92-195).

It was public outcry again in 1987 that stopped the Bureau of Land Management from implementing a "kill" policy that would have been mandated by law via a published statement in the Federal Register dated April 22, 1987 [AA-250-07-4321-02]

Public outrage by massive letter writing campaigns has saved the horses in the past — it is their only hope now!!

PLEASE — Call, fax, E-mail BUT WRITE TOO! Letters received through regular mail have a greater impact.

*Contact your Representatives and Senators. Urge them to do whatever is necessary to repeal the Burns Amendment, Section 142 of the FY 2005 Consolidated Appropriations Bill which allows sale for slaughter of formerly protected wild horses.